A Desperation Mission
by mmiab
Summary: A single man is sent to the past to give everyone the best chance to win a war they've nearly lost. It's the only chance they have. Time-travel fic. I'm not good at descriptions. I don't own Naruto and this isn't for profit. Reviews are welcome.
1. Arrival

One peaceful morning, the relative stillness of the Land of Whirlpools was broken by the flash and crack of lightning. If anyone had been near enough to notice, they might have found the presence of lightning on a clear day disturbing. And the wave of demonic chakra that seemed to hang in the air around a newly formed crater would have been cause for alarm. However, the only ones there to witness the success of arguably the most complicated fuuinjutsu ever created were a few animals that made the wilderness their home.

And the 18-year-old Namikaze Masato began his mission. Not that he was focused on it. Instead, he lay breathing heavily in the epicenter, his chest rising haggardly trying to stave off fainting. His bright blond hair was covered in soot along with nearly every inch of his clothes. He wore a muted blue outfit with a brown cloak and a scroll case across his back.

As his breath steadied, he opened his eyes to reveal a pair of pupilless white eyes that revealed his Hyuuga blood. Slowly he began to drag himself to his feet and head away from his point of impact, doing his best to dust off some of the black dust that covered him. His entire body was hurting. Every muscle felt strained, and each breath felt like it was forced. As soon as he got some distance and could find a place for camp, he would sleep.

* * *

At nearly the same time, a younger boy with equally bright blond hair sat swinging by himself trying not to cry. He'd failed the genin exam again, and this time he wouldn't get another chance. He wiped away the moisture in his eyes as one of the teachers approached him.

"Naruto, there you are," Mizuki said as he approached the child.

With a large sniff, Naruto answered, "H-hey Mizuki-sensei."

"Listen Naruto, I know how bad you feel about the test. But you know there's another way for you to make genin, right?"

Naruto was far too excited about another chance to see the dark gleam in Mizuki's eyes as he told the blond what he had to do.

* * *

A few hours later found Masato hunched over a small fire in a shallow cave. He was feeling a bit better, at least enough to finally let the reality of the situation sink in.

_I actually made it. I thought for sure it would never work._

This plan was as desperate as it was necessary. Years of war had forced the need for a desperate solution, and the secret fuuinjutsu vaults underneath Uzushiogakure had just what was needed.

His dad had been against him going, but it was a hollow disagreement. Dad knew more about self-sacrifice than anyone. So instead, he'd done his best to help in the preparations, training him even harder for the year it took to plan and draw the seals.

_With mom gone, I think both of us needed something to focus on_._ If only they could see me now._

With his thoughts turning towards home, he pulled out a scroll from its case and began reviewing the information he needed for his mission before exhaustion took him.

The morning found him nearly back to full health. An average man might have needed days to even walk, but he'd always healed quickly. Supposedly it was genetic.

As he packed and began his walk towards the island's shore, he amused himself by training. Keeping his Byakugan active as a precaution against unwanted observers, he went through his elemental chakra exercises. First, he used wind chakra to cut a series of leaves into smaller and smaller pieces. Then, after he felt satisfied, he used a kunai as a medium for his lightning chakra, charging it before grounding it in the dirt. The exercises kept him busy and the day passed quickly. By the end of the day, he arrived at the beach that marked the edge of the Land of Whirlpools. It looked like he'd be crossing the channel to the Land of Fire on foot, and he'd need to wait until the morning. Instead of training like he'd prefer, he decided to rest. Water walking across the channel tomorrow would be draining.

As he lay down to watch the sunset, his mind drifted to his destination: Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He had equal parts excitement and anxiety for seeing that place. He had plenty of good memories about his home, but this Konoha wouldn't be much like the one he knew. He did his best to limit his emotions, but he was definitely nervous. There were a lot of things that could go wrong in an infiltration mission, even one as unique as this one. But dwelling would do him no good, so he shut these thoughts down. It was still a long while before he drifted off to sleep

* * *

As the same sun set over Konoha, a blonde boy in an orange jumpsuit sat on the head of the fourth Hokage. His mood was subdued. He'd met his team today and passed his stupid sensei's test, but he was far from happy. He just had to be on a team with that bastard Uchiha. And his sensei hadn't even taught him any cool jutsu yet. How was he going to be Hokage if he didn't know any kick-ass jutsu? His melancholy attitude quickly changed to determination as he jumped to his feet and thrust his fist in the air.

"I'll show them all! I'll become the best ninja ever without their help!" He yelled to no one in particular.

He ran home with new resolve. He'd show that damn Uchiha. Then maybe Sakura would go out with him.

* * *

The next few days passed quickly for Namikaze Masato, and before he knew it he was only a few hours outside of Konoha. Stepping off the road, he changed quickly into civilian attire. He quickly sealed his ninja clothes and his kunai in a scroll before using a long white strip of cloth to bind his eyes. A blond teenager with the Byakugan would definitely start too many rumors in the village of Konoha, and he wanted to keep as low a profile as he could for the time being.

Picking up a large stick to use as a walking staff, he continued his journey in silence, doing his best to appear nonthreatening and forgettable.

As the gates came into view, he let his eyes drift over the parts of the village he could see. There were a few noticeable differences from the last time he had been there. First, there were much fewer ninja on the walls. Years of peace had apparently softened the diligence of the guard. The second and more obvious detail was two less visages carved into the giant stone mountain in the backdrop of the city than he remembered.

"Good afternoon sir, what is your name and reasons for visiting the village?"

The guard's questions broke Masato's inner thoughts as he realised he'd made it to the gate. The guard looked at him expectantly, but without suspicion.

Masato gave the man a smile and answered, "My name is Namikaze Masato, and I've got some information for the Hokage."

He could see the guard's recognition of his family name before the man called for his partner to take him to the Hokage's tower. This was as expected. The fourth Hokage was one of the most famous Konoha ninja ever, and blonde hair was his most noticeable feature. His name and his hair would probably be enough to get him at least a meeting with the third Hokage.

As a guard led him towards the large tower in the center of the city, Masato politely declined to answer any of the man's probing personal questions, instead claiming that all information was for the Hokage's ears only. After arriving and thanking the guard, he walked up to the secretary manning the desk inside the tower. She was a young girl, probably still in her teens, with brown hair and a pretty face.

"How can I help you, sir?" The girl asked, not even looking up from her paperwork.

"Hello, I'm Namikaze Masato, and I need to speak with the Hokage."

The secretary looked up from her work at the mention of his name and he flashed her a smile. Her cheeks reddened slightly, but she didn't look away.

"It looks like he has some time now if you're willing," she murmured.

After he nodded, two ANBU members moved to stand by him. Masato handed over his scroll case and held his arms out as the two ANBU members checked him for weapons before leading him further into the tower.

A few minutes later, he stood before the third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Although he'd never met the man, Masato had a lot of secondhand knowledge from his dad and others. They'd all painted the man as a kind, grandfatherly type. What else could be expected from a man nicknamed 'The Professor'? But the man who sat across from him had a hard look that contrasted sharply with what he expected.

"You claim to be a Namikaze and you say you have information for me?" The older man said, making it sound less like a question and more like a demand. The aura of power around this man was nearly palpable.

"Y-yes sir, Hokage-sama," Masato choked out, doing his best to steel himself against the man's fierce gaze.

_You're on his side, you're on his side. Just relax and remember you're on his side, _he thought to himself, taking a few deep breaths to steady himself.

"I have some information about the fourth's legacy that must be for your ears only."

The third's eyebrow raised at this, but his gaze didn't waver. However, after a few seconds he nodded to his ANBU and they stepped outside, closing the door behind them. Sarutobi Hiruzen activated a privacy seal at his desk before speaking.

"You claim to be related to Minato, but that is impossible, no matter how much you look like him. As everyone knows, he left no family."

"Yes sir," Masato said quickly, "Just let me explain. This might take awhile."

* * *

"This is all very difficult to believe," the third Hokage murmured, rubbing his temples with his hands. "But your knowledge of this village's secrets means I have to either believe you or execute you for treason."

Masato gulped at this before continuing. "I understand this is difficult sir, but I just need a small level of trust to build on. I have no problem being watched for the time being, and I wanted to remain in the village at this point anyway."

"Alright, I think I can trust you that far. I assume you've thought of some sort of cover story?"

"Yes," Masato nodded, "I'll just say I'm a cousin of the fourth that was sent to train outside of the village when I was a child. It would be difficult for someone to disprove. Other than that, I'll just keep my nose clean as best I can."

"Alright, that should work well enough. Be warned, the first sign of betrayal will be the end of you."

"Yes sir," Masato said with only a bit of nervousness

"Fine," the third sighed, "I suppose I should give you a rank and a forehead protector. What was your rank before?"

"Jounin, sir."

The Hokage raised an eyebrow slightly. "I'll need to have someone test your abilities before I can give you that. I'll have someone meet you at Training Ground 8 in an hour. And I'm sure you understand the need to hide those eyes. If the Hyuuga find out, they'll be clamoring to put a seal on you. Just tell people you're hiding scars for now.

"Yes sir," Masato rose and bowed. "I appreciate the assistance sir. I will return when I'm finished."

* * *

An hour later, Masato sat cross-legged in the middle of Training Ground 8. He'd settled the issue of money with the Hokage's secretary who had been more than eager to help. Her eagerness probably had more to do with the reason she kept blushing when he smiled at her than her professional integrity. But still, everything had been taken care of, and now he just had to perform well against whoever the Hokage sent to test him.

The approach of someone broke him of his thoughts and he instinctively leaned left as a kunai passed by where his shoulder was a half-second before. He turned to see a purple-haired woman in fishnet and a trenchcoat walking up to him from behind.

_That smile is way too large for someone who just tried to kill me. And who fights in fishnet anyway?_

Instead of showing his annoyance, he kept his face impassive as he stood and faced her.

"What's up, I'm Mitarashi Anko," she said, "Are you the new guy I'm checking out?"

"Yes, I'm Namikaze Masato," he said, giving her a friendly smile.

"What's with the eye wraps? Don't tell me I'm fighting a blind guy."

"No," he shook his head, "I can see through these, they just cover some scarring and add a little protection. Besides, I'm a sensor, I can see most people by their chakra." It wasn't a complete lie, he could definitely see people by their chakra, but only with his Byakugan active. He flashed her a smile before continuing. "Besides, I'd hate to not be able to see your pretty face." A few compliments always seemed to make people (especially women) relax around him.

Her smile turned predatory as she licked her lips. Maybe flirting was a mistake.

"I'm going to enjoy playing with you boy, you sure are a pretty one. Come at me with intent to kill, if you can disarm or incapacitate me, I'll tell the Hokage you're jounin level. If you can't," she licked her lips, "I'll have to punish you."

_Yup, definitely a mistake. No more flirting, she's insane._

Masato betrayed none of his inner musings and moved into a combat stance, waiting for her first move.

She came quickly, rushing forward and throwing punches. He dodged as best he could, backpedaling and using his longer length to keep his distance. Then, as she overextended, he grabbed her wrist and pulled, spinning her into him so that her back was against his chest. He quickly wrapped both arms around hers to hold them down.

"Kinky," she laughed, "If this is all you wanted we could have skipped the spar."

"You're a bit forward," he murmured, shoving her forward to dodge a kick aimed between his legs. "Shouldn't you be taking this seriously?"

She openly laughed at this before attacking again, still sticking to straight taijutsu. She landed a few hits on him, but he shook them off as he began pushing forward. Seeing that he was strong enough to counter her taijutsu, Anko disengaged and jumped back, flying through hand signs.

"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique," she yelled as she landed, blowing a stream of fire at him.

Masato pumped some chakra to his legs and jumped back, flashing through hand signs himself before calling out "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough."

Anko quickly used a Body Replacement Technique to switch with a nearby rock that was quickly blown away by the force of the wind. She drew a pair of kunai and threw them quickly before beginning a second set of hand signs.

Masato caught them both by their rings and promptly threw them back before Anko finished her hand signs.

Masato used a body flicker to appear directly behind her. Before she could react, he grabbed the back of her neck with one hand and formed a hand seal with the other.

"Lightning Release: Static Discharge," he murmured, running lightning chakra through his arm and into her neck causing her to tense up then go limp. It took a good amount of chakra as well as physical contact to be effective, but for a spar like this, it was a perfect finishing move. He caught her before she fell and gently laid her on the ground.

"I'm sorry for that, it should wear off in a minute or so." His voice and demeanor were neutral no matter how much he wanted to smirk at the woman who was so cocky a few minutes prior. "I hope that was satisfactory. It was nice to meet you Mitarashi Anko."

He turned and walked quickly away from the training ground, allowing a small smile to show. It was an entertaining spar, and he was sure it would have been much more difficult if she'd taken him seriously. He had a strong suspicion he didn't want to be there when she regained the ability to move.

* * *

A quick walk back to the tower and a few sets of stairs found him once again in front of the Hokage. A few minutes later, Anko strolled in with an angry glare.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" She yelled at him, completely ignoring the Hokage.

"I apologize," he said, bowing his head, "I was worried you would be upset at me so I decided to give you some space."

The third had a small smile on his face at that comment, but quickly hid it and cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Anko, please report," he said, fixing his attention on her.

"Fine," she sighed, "He beat me in two minutes, and I'm pretty sure he was holding back. His taijutsu was as good or better than mine and he's faster than probably everyone but Gai and Kakashi.

The third rose both eyebrows at this. It wasn't everyday that Anko gave a positive review of someone. He nodded and put a pen to the paper in front of him.

"Thank you for your time Anko, you are dismissed," Hiruzen said with a nod.

She nodded at the Hokage and turned, walking towards the door. Before she left, she turned back around with a predatory smile.

"I might have lost in our spar Masato," she said sweetly, "But I'll get back at you soon." Her laugh could be heard even as she closed the door and walked away.

"She's a bit scary," Masato murmured as he turned back to the Hokage.

"Yes," the Hokage nodded his agreement. "She was Orochimaru's student, and I'm afraid some of his violent tendencies rubbed off on her.

A look of clarity came over the young man and he snapped his fingers. "That's right, I knew she seemed familiar. She's the one with the curse mark, right?"

The third sighed deeply and rubbed his face with his hand. "Is there anything about my village that you don't know?"

Masato gave the old man a sympathizing smile.

"Sorry sir, I have good sources. Besides, I've got something for her," he said as he unscrewed his scroll case and began leafing through the contents. He pulled out a large scroll covered in a few forms of the Cursed Seal of Heaven accompanying descriptions. "I've got the instructions on how to remove her seal."

The Hokage's eyebrows threatened to lose themselves under his hat as they arched in surprise. "You're telling me you've come up with a way to remove a seal that my student Jiraiya, the greatest fuuinjutsu user alive, says is impossible to remove? I'm sorry, but I don't trust you nearly enough to believe that."

"That's fine," Masato nodded with a thoughtful expression on his face. "I'll have to look over the steps anyway, we can hold off as long as you feel is necessary.

"Alright, that's acceptable. Anko said you were going easy on her, is that true?"

Masato shrugged at this, rubbing the back of his neck. "Kind of. Almost all my ninjutsu are A-rank, and a lot of them would draw suspicion if people found out I knew them. Using a Chidori or The Hyuuga's Gentle Fist would raise questions I couldn't answer.

Hiruzen nodded at this. It was surprising that Kakashi's Chidori was part of the young man's arsenal, but at this point, he was beginning to accept that every other thing the boy said would be surprising. It was getting easier and easier to believe him.

"You're dismissed, Masato. I'd like to know about all you can do before you're put on any missions, but for the time being, get yourself acclimated to the village."

* * *

At about the same time, two kunoichi sat in a bar sipping sake. The one in the fishnet and trenchcoat suddenly sneezed.

"Someone must be talking about you Anko," the red-eyed beauty across from her smiled.

"Yeah, sure Kurenai," Anko muttered as she rolled her eyes.

Kurenai just smiled at her friend. She'd known the girl long enough to look past her sarcastic attitude.

"So," Anko said, steering the conversation back towards their previous topic. "How do I get back at this guy for beating me?"

"I don't know," Kurenai said with a smile and a twinkle in her eye. "If he beat you so easily, he's probably too strong for you to beat him up like you do with most guys."

"Hmm," Anko mused, "So you're saying I should tie him down first? Would you like to join me?" She gave her reddening friend a smirk. Kurenai wasn't necessarily a prude, but Anko could always make her blush when she wanted to. "He definitely looked good, and I'm sure he'll have plenty of women going after him. I could let you go first if you'd like?"

Kurenai reddened even more at this and hurriedly took a sip of her drink to distract herself.

"What are you ladies talking about?" A new voice asked, the smell of cigarette smoke quickly reaching the girls' noses.

"Hey smokestack, just talking about Kurenai's new man," Anko said with a too-large smile on her face. Kurenai's sputtering denial was her reward.

Sarutobi Asuma raised an eyebrow at this as he took a seat next to Kurenai. It was no secret that Asuma and Kurenai were seeing each other, although neither of them would acknowledge the fact.

"Oh? He asked with as much nonchalance as he could muster. "And who is that?"

"She's joking, she's just talking about Namikaze Masato, the guy who beat her in a spar today," Kurenai said, giving her friend a glare. "Apparently he's a new ninja that just came into town after some sort of long-term training."

"Yeah, I heard some people in the tower talking about him being a jounin," Asuma mused while rubbing his chin. "Is he actually related to the fourth?"

Anko shrugged at this. "The Hokage seemed to think so. I'm sure you'll meet him eventually, it's pretty hard to hide with bright blond hair."

* * *

As Masato sat on the roof of his new apartment, a flash of orange in the distance drew his attention. The flash of orange grew larger until it morphed into a short blond kid with nearly a dozen ninja chasing him. They appeared to be covered in feathers, and looked ready to kill. The child laughed and whooped as he turned right and sprinted down an alley while yelling behind him.

"That's right, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the number one ninja and future Hokage! Believe it!"

As the sounds of the boy and his pursuers faded, Masato couldn't help but smile softly.

"Hey dad," he whispered to himself.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

It's a time-travel fic, I'm so original! I thought this would be a cool idea and a good variation from a theme that is used so often in Naruto fanfiction. Normally I don't like reading stories about original characters, but I think this is a cool idea. It lets me talk about Naruto and his friends as adults through his son's eyes while still allowing me to do pairings between Masato and other people. I think it would be weird if I had Naruto flirting with people that were adults when he was a kid. If you can't get into it because Masato doesn't feel real or you can't get into a story with such a prominent original character, I completely understand.

This story varies from canon in the following way. The Fourth Shinobi World War lasts for at least twenty years. The good guys are losing but have held out as well as they could through that time. Try not to overthink it, I know this will break from the manga further as new chapters are released.

I won't use a lot of Japanese, either for the techniques or honorifics. There are a few exceptions. First, if an honorific is specific to a person, I'll probably use it. An example will be Naruto calling Sasuke 'Sasuke-teme' or someone calling the Hokage 'Hokage-sama.' I'll generally use an English form of a technique since I don't speak Japanese and I don't want people to have to look up names. The exceptions will be ones like Rasengan where the Japanese name is more recognizable than a translation or ones where the translation is way too long to type when the original is only a word or two. I don't want to have to type Special Super Eight Trigrams Rotating Palms of Heaven and Earth when I can just write Kaiten (this is an exaggeration, please don't correct me on it). Usually I'll go with whichever way is easier to understand and helps the story flow.

Please give me some feedback on what you think. I'd love some feedback or questions about the story and advice is always welcome even if I might not follow it. I have a general idea of the story in my head, but I'm always willing to change it if someone suggests something interesting to add or change.


	2. Meeting Team 7 and 8

_ Two men stood in a forest surrounded by a number of trees with strange spiral marks drilled into their sides. The first man stood tall in a white robe with 'sixth Hokage'' written on the back in orange. His blond hair was held out of his face by a forehead protector with the Kanji for 'shinobi' mounted on a long orange strip of cloth. His whisker-marked face was serious, but his eyes sparkled with amusement._

_ "Again," he said, doing his best to sound like a firm taskmaster. It wasn't something he had a lot of practice at._

_ His young companion was bent over at the middle, hands on his knees. He wore the standard gear of a Konoha ninja and a similar forehead protector. He had the same blond hair as his older companion, but his pale eyes contrasted sharply with his companion's blue. He was sweating and breathing heavily. He replied with a rude hand gesture that made his partner lean his head back and laugh._

_ "Give me a second dad," the younger one gasped out. "Not all of us have the chakra reserves of Kami herself."_

_ The older one laughed at this before patting his son's back gently._

_ "You're the one who wanted to get better," he said with a smile. "This is what it takes."_

_ "I'm 12, give me a break," he muttered to himself before his demeanor grew serious as he stood up and turned towards the nearest tree. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. His hand was held palm up as his face began to show visible strain. A sphere of blue chakra began to form over his hand, reducing in volume as it condensed and corporealized._

_ "__Rasengan!__" He yelled, thrusting the sphere into the tree and shattering it._

_ The man cheered and hopped around, pounding the boy on his back and knocking him to the ground. The boy groaned and rolled on his back, glaring at the excited man with mock anger._

_ "Sometimes I forget which of us is the adult," he muttered, "I'd hate to have dealt with you when you were a kid."_

_ The man laughed at this as he plopped down next to this boy, nodding his agreement. "Yeah, I was a handful. All enthusiasm, no common sense. Still, would you rather deal with someone like me or a brooding bastard like your uncle?"_

_ The boy shuddered before they both started to laugh. They joked a lot about the grumpy attitude of the Hokage's former teammate, much to his annoyance._

_ "Still, you'd frustrate the hell out of me in no time. I've got no idea what mom saw in you," he muttered._

_ "Me either!" He said with a smile, not rising to the bait. But both of us should thank Kami she did."_

_ They both lapsed into a relaxed silence, enjoying the rare moment of peace._

* * *

The following day, Masato spent his morning at his favorite ramen stand. Other than the proprietor's age, Ichiraku ramen was unchanged. He sat quietly at the bar, nursing his second bowl of ramen. He'd practically been raised on the stuff despite his mother's best efforts. Normally he would have already put down several more bowls and been on his way, but he was waiting for a certain customer to make his morning appearance. According to his notes, Uzumaki Naruto ate most of his meals here, and he wanted to introduce himself to the boy.

And there he was, walking into the stand and yelling a greeting to the old man behind the counter.

"Hey old man Teuchi!" The boy yelled in a voice several times louder than necessary. Masato winced. "Start lining 'em up, I'm hungry! Believe it!"

The man behind the counter gave a big smile to the boy, and he and his daughter Ayame got to work. Naruto took a seat at the bar next to Masato, clueless to the glances the older blond kept giving him.

Masato was having a hard time not staring. It was one thing to catch a glimpse of the boy at a distance yesterday, but seeing a tiny version of his father sitting five feet from him, humming and smiling, was even more surreal. He shook his head to dispel his thoughts before turning back to the old man.

"Put the boys meal on my tab," he said, lifting his glass to get the man's attention. The man and his daughter both stopped at this, showing surprise for a few moments before they both smiled and nodded. They had tried to hide it, but it was obvious they were bewildered that someone, anyone, would pay for the boy's meal.

He could feel the itch of someone's attention on him, and he turned to the boy next to him who was staring wide-eyed at him. The boy's face showed pure surprise and a hint of confusion.

"Th-thank you sir," the boy said quickly, bowing his head. "Do I know you?"

"Nope," Masato shook his head with a smile, "I'm new in town, and we blonds have to stick together."

Naruto smiled at this. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the best ninja in all of Konoha!" He exclaimed, extending his hand.

"Namikaze Masato," he replied, shaking the boy's hand. "Be careful claiming something like that kid, someone might make you prove it."

Naruto finally seemed to notice that his new friend was a ninja, taking in his flak jacket under the brown coat and the hitai-ate on his forehead. His eyes winded and he began speaking quickly.

"Wow! You're a ninja? Do you know any cool jutsu? Can you teach me them? What's up with the eye bandages? How come I've never seen you before?"

As the boy took a breath, no doubt to ask more question, Teuchi sat the boy's first bowl of ramen down, temporarily distracting him. Masato took this moment to cut in.

"To answer your questions: yes, yes, why should I, to protect my eyes, and I just told you I was new in town."

The boy took a moment to match the answers to the questions before scowling. "Why won't you show me some cool jutsu?" His anger was difficult to take seriously as he stuffed his face with noodles.

"I just told you," Masato laughed, "Why should I?" He was loving this. Unbeknownst to Naruto, they'd had nearly the same conversation when Masato was a kid, and his dad had taken a lot of joy in teasing him. Payback was a bitch.

"Come on," Naruto whined, "I'm going to be Hokage, I need to learn some kick-ass jutsu!"

"You're a genin right? Don't you have a sensei to teach you?" He asked with false curiosity. He knew the answers of course.

"Yeah," he grumbled, "But he never teaches us anything."

"Well how long have you been his student?"

"Almost a whole week!" The boy wailed, "And he still hasn't shown us anything."

Masato raised an eyebrow. He knew the boy would be impatient, but less than seven days into his career as a ninja and he was already frustrated by his lack of progress.

"Naruto, you need to be patient. Just because you're a ninja now doesn't mean you can just learn any jutsu right off the bat."

The boy seemed to mull this over as he finished off his fourth bowl. He seemed to come to a conclusion and his mood visually dropped. Masato assumed that the boy thought he was just making excuses to not teach him anything. According to his dad, no one had been willing to teach him until Jiraiya had stepped later on. Masato definitely didn't plan on being on that list.

"I'm not going to teach you any jutsu yet," Masato said, drawing the boy's attention once more, "But I will show you what to practice so that I can show some to you in the future."

The boy broke into another smile, the sadness from before gone as quick as it came.

"When do you have to meet your team today?"

"Well," Naruto said after swallowing his current mouthful of noodles, "We were supposed to meet an hour ago, but our Kakashi-sensei is usually three hours late so I have a while."

Masato nodded at this, well aware of Kakashi's tardiness. "Alright, finish your meal and we'll head to your meeting place. I'll teach you there so you won't have to worry about being late."

The boy's smile grew even larger as he hurried to stuff the rest of his ramen in his mouth and hop off the stool, running outside before Masato had even moved. He sighed and pulled out his wallet, handing a stack of bills to the old man behind the counter.

"Thanks," the gruff man said with a small smile, "That boy doesn't have too many people to look out for him on accou-*cough* well, he just doesn't have too many people. So thanks." His slight slip-up didn't go unnoticed by Masato.

"I know who the boy is," Masato said quietly, causing Teuchi's eyes to widen slightly, "I just don't care." The old man relaxed. "Besides, with this hair, we might even be related," he said with a smile. "I'm Namikaze Masato, I'm sure you'll see me back here. Have a good day," he said, waving over his shoulder as he walked towards the exit.

The walk to Training Ground 7 was fairly quick. Masato kept quiet, allowing his young companion to fill the silence with questions and random thoughts. The boy seemed to have no filter between his mind and his mouth, saying everything that popped into his head. He did notice a few civilians shoot some glares at the boy, and a frown grew with each one. By the time they arrived 10 minutes later, his face held a grimace. He knew of the civilians early dislike of his father, but he'd always assumed it was an exaggeration. Seeing the people who loved his father in the future look at him now with dislike was very surreal.

He looked up to see two other children sitting against trees waiting in the field in front of them. Masato recognized them as Sakura and Sasuke, but waited for Naruto to make the introductions.

"Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme, this is Masato-sensei, he's gonna show me a new move!"

"Naruto, don't call Sasuke-kun that!" Sakura yelled, whacking him on the back of the head and knocking him down.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, barely gave his teammates a glance. He looked apathetic, but his eyes were focused on Masato.

Masato, for his part, sighed and rolled his eyes. "Are you three really a team?" Naruto nodded and Masato sighed again. "Fine, first, just because I said I'd show you something doesn't mean I'm your sensei, I'm sure your actual sensei wouldn't appreciate that. Second, Naruto, don't call your teammate a bastard," he glared at the boy who was opening his mouth to retort and he closed it just as quickly.

"If he is or isn't is irrelevant, you're teammates and you need to respect each other. And Sakura, please don't hit your teammates while I'm here." The girl, to her credit, actually looked a bit ashamed before turning to check Sasuke's reaction.

"You are teammates," he continued with a third sigh, "And whether you like each other or not is irrelevant. You need each other."

Sasuke grunted at this, and Masato looked at him expectantly. "You have an opinion Sasuke?"

"I don't need anyone," he muttered, staring off to the side, "I just need to get stronger."

This was the reaction Masato had expected, and he had an answer prepared. "And how do you think you'll get stronger without your teammates to challenge and support you?"

Sasuke had no answer for this, but it was clear he disagreed. Masato shook his head.

"Anyways, I told you I'd give you something to help make jutsu easier for you and I will. I'm going to teach you to walk up trees." All three kids seemed interested in this, so Masato walked to the nearest tree and walked up the side. Once he was a dozen steps up, he turned and looked at them. Naruto and Sakura looked amazed, and even Sasuke had an eyebrow raised. Masato translated that to mean wide-eyed amazement.

"It just requires using a small amount of chakra in your feet to stick to the tree. Too much and you'll fly off, too little and you won't stick. It'll build your chakra reserves and help with control."

All three of them moved to a tree and started trying to climb. Sakura seemed to get it right away, but Naruto and Sasuke kept pushing off the trees.

"You're both using too much chakra," Masato said, pointing at the two boys. "Draw a small amount of chakra to your feet and hold it there, I'll tell you how much more or less to use."

Both boys nodded and did their best to draw their chakra to their legs. Masato used his Byakugan to see their chakra. Neither seemed to question how he knew.

"Sasuke, you need just a bit more, there you go, try it now. Naruto, you need to use way less."

Sasuke walked several steps up the tree before starting to slide down, over correcting, and pushing off. Naruto had his eyes screwed up in focus, but his chakra was fluctuating madly and he still held too much in his feet.

"Less, less, aaaaand hold it." Masato murmured. "Hold it right there and try."

Naruto only got two steps up the tree before blasting off, but he smiled in excitement. He had felt it! Sasuke grunted in what was either excitement or indigestion, and both quickly resumed.

"Sakura," Masato said, turning to the pink-haired girl. "I want you to practice running up and down the tree now. Your control is excellent, but your reserves are probably fairly low."

She nodded with determination before glancing at her teammates, no doubt to check Sasuke's progress. Masato snapped his fingers at her to draw her attention back to him.

"Girl," he grunted, "You're doing this exercise for you, not him." She opened her mouth in surprise and he held up an appeasing hand. "I'm not insulting you Sakura, but you're a ninja. If you're more focused on him than yourself, you shouldn't be here." She looked at him with wide eyes, and he sighed. "Just think about it. You can be a great ninja someday, but it has to be your whole focus."

She seemed to relax a bit into a thoughtful, slightly troubled, look. He smiled reassuringly.

"When the boys have mastered this, you can all start on water-walking. Same principle, but you have to adjust your chakra levels as the water moves. I'm sure you can figure it out. I'll see you later Sakura."

With this, he used a body flicker technique to leave the field. They had enough to work on for now, and he didn't really want to deal with Naruto begging to be taught something new before he'd even finished . As much as he'd love to help the boy, his chakra control was so bad that virtually no ninjutsu would work for him. Very few ninjutsu benefited from excess chakra, and most had some dangerous side-effects. The Wind Release: Great Breakthrough jutsu was one, but Naruto needed some semblance of control before he'd teach him a move that had such a wide area of effect.

_Maybe after he's mastered water-walking and learned how to cut a leaf with his chakra. That shouldn't take him too long. And with mornings spent waiting for Kakashi, he'll have plenty of time to practice._

As he walked away from Training Ground 7, he saw the masked ninja slowly making his way towards where his students waited. His nose was stuck in an orange book and his pace was slow. The man looked exactly as Masato remembered him from when he was ten. That had been the last time he'd seen him before he was sent on a mission he had not returned from.

They approached each other, and Kakashi finally noticed him, glancing up and holding his gaze for a second before looking back to his book.

"You're the sensei of the students at Training Ground 7?" He asked as he stopped a few feet from the masked ninja.

"Yes," he replied, his eyes never leaving his book.

"I taught them how to walk up trees. Naruto begged me for a jutsu, I figured that was a good compromise."

Kakashi glanced up a second time, taking stock of the young man in front of him. He noticed the hair that looked so familiar and the hitai-ate. This ninja was unfamiliar to him, but he carried himself in a way that spoke of experience. He was probably a chunin or jounin, which was strange because Kakashi was sure he knew them all, at least by appearance.

"Who are you?" He asked. His voice was nonchalant. It wasn't necessarily against the rules to teach another ninja's students, but it was usually frowned upon. Usually because the offending ninja was trying to steal another's students or make their sensei look bad. Kakashi didn't sense any malice in the man's actions, so he didn't press the issue.

"I'm Masato," the man said with a smile.

"Kakashi," he grunted in return. "I don't recognize you. Are you a chunin?"

"Jounin," he said. "I just got in the village yesterday."

Kakashi didn't question the man. Usually an unknown ninja meant there was a highly classified mission involved. It looked like Kakashi would be speaking to the Hokage privately when his genin picked up their D-rank mission today.

Instead, he said, "Thanks for the help, I'm sure I'll see you around."

Masato nodded at the dismissal and continued walking. He was looking for Training Ground 8 next, to see a certain young girl. He found Team 8 eating lunch in the open expanse of Training Ground 8 with their sensei. He held up far enough away to avoid detection and observed. The young girl with pale eyes ate quietly, slouching into herself as if to avoid notice.

His mother had never been the most outgoing woman, but she was loved by the people of Konoha both as the Hokage's wife and as a kind and generous person. He'd heard stories from his parents about how it had taken eight years and a near-death experience for her to admit her feelings to his dad, and another two years before he'd done anything about it. They had been so happy, his father the energetic Hokage and his mother the confident, supportive wife that stood beside him on the battlefield.

But the Hyuuga Hinata he saw before him looked so shy and reserved. Despite the differences, it was still obvious that this was his mother at twelve, and that was giving him sharp pangs of grief. He'd only been fourteen when she'd died on the battlefield. It was a pain that never really went away, and seeing her here only brought back a flood of painful memories that he'd rather not dwell on.

He didn't really have an excuse to approach the team as they ate, but he couldn't resist getting closer. As he walked towards them, his eyes were stuck to the little Hyuuga. As they each noticed him in turn (Kiba and Akamaru, followed by Kurenai, then Shino and Hinata at the same time), their small talk drifted off. He was only a dozen feet from them before Kurenai cleared her throat, causing him to stop.

"Can I help you?" She asked. "This training ground is reserved for our team."

It took Masato a full five seconds to shake himself out of his daze and turn the beautiful kunoichi with red eyes. He gave her a huge smile. It was partly to relax the mood and partly because she reminded him of a girl he'd had a crush on as a child.

_She looks just like her daughter. Same red eyes, same hair, even her body type is similar. I probably shouldn't overthink that._

To his great satisfaction, Kurenai blushed slightly at his large smile.

"I'm sorry," he said with a smirk, "Is this not Training Ground 10?"

"No," Kiba growled, "This is 8." He could see that the man was flirting with his sensei, and while her personal life was her own, he was protective of the people in his pack.

"Wait," Kurenai asked, "Are you Namikaze Masato?"

Masato's smile widened at this. She already knew him? This was great. "Yeah, that's me. How did you know?"

"Anko mentioned you yesterday," she said. "You're the new jounin she tested."

"You mean the crazy lady? Yes, I sparred with her yesterday. Is she already spreading rumors about me?"

"Yes," she smiled, "I'd watch out for her, she'll want a rematch."

Masato shrugged nonchalantly before asking for her and her team's names. After introductions, she asked why he was headed to Training Ground 10.

He shrugged. "Just looking for an empty place to practice. What are you teaching your team today?"

"We'll be working on chakra control, then doing a mission," she replied without reservation. Although the man was a stranger, he had a relaxed personality that seemed to spread to those around him. He nodded thoughtfully at her reply.

"Yeah, that's smart. I just taught Kakashi's team the tree climbing exercise."

"Well at least someone is teaching them," she said with an airy laugh. Kakashi's laziness was well known. "I didn't realize you were a teacher."

Masato shrugged. "I'm not really. I've always wanted to be, but it just hasn't worked out yet. I only showed them because Uzumaki Naruto begged me to show him something." Hinata made an 'eep!' sound and quickly covered her mouth. He almost laughed. His mother couldn't even handle hearing her future husband's name without getting embarrassed. As a good son, he knew he needed to help her, and he would. He'd definitely have some fun with her first though.

"Well, you're welcome to share your knowledge with my team if you'd like," she offered. Shino raised an eyebrow at this. He'd always been more observant than his teammates, and he was aware of his sensei's reluctance to allow other ninja to teach her students. She was very protective of them.

"Thanks Kurenai," he said with another smile, causing another small blush. "I'm sure you're better with the teaching, but I could always give them some suggestions." She considered this for a second before nodding.

Masato looked over the three genin rubbing his chin in thought. He knew a good bit about all three of them. All three of them focused on their clan techniques, and he'd been around them and their relatives enough to know the weaknesses of these techniques. He'd give them some help in covering them.

"Well, the first thing you need to do as a ninja," he said as he eyed the three genin, "Is decide what type of ninja you want to be."

"W-w-what do you m-m-mean, Masato-sensei?" The small Hyuuga spoke up for the first time.

_She even has a cute little stutter! Damn I'd give anything to tease mom about this, _Masato thought to himself with.

"What do you want to focus on? Do you want to stay back and use long-range ninjutsu and tools, do you want to be a tracker, do you want to rely on genjutsu and traps, do you want to be an infiltration or assassin specialist? There's a lot of options, you just need to decide what fits your skills."

"What are you?" Kiba demanded. The boy practically growled at him, although it was hard to tell if that was just his dog-like demeanor or he was upset about Masato flirting with his sensei.

"I'm a heavy hitter," Masato shrugged. "I have a lot of chakra, so I can afford to use high-level ninjutsu with shadow clones to a greater extent than most. I'm pretty fast and good at taijutsu, but I'm bad at genjutsu and I'm not very sneaky. So straight-up fights are my specialty. What about you all? Any ideas?"

"I'm good at close-range fighting," Kiba said proudly. Masato's expectant look bade him to continue after a few moments of thought. "I can use my clan's jutsu to improve my strength and speed, and Akamaru and I can double team our enemy."

"Thanks Kiba, that sounds about right for an Inuzuka. Shino, you go next."

"I would be best at long-range. Why you ask? Because my clan's techniques allow me to drain an opponent's chakra without notice. I am also proficient at remaining unseen if needed."

"Yeah," Masato nodded, "That would work. What about you Hinata?"

"W-w-well, I can use m-my clan's Gentle Fist s-s-style to f-f-fight, and m-m-my Byakugan is useful."

Masato smiled at the timid girl, causing her to blush and cover her face. He chalked it up to his genetic similarity to Naruto and yet again tried not to overthink it.

"Very good guys. Now, once you have figured out what type of ninja you are, you need to figure out what you would be weak at. Then you can figure out how to counter that. I'll make an educated guess and you tell me if I'm wrong. We'll start with Kiba."

Kurenai was enjoying listening to the young man teach her students. _He obviously loves to teach_, she thought to herself. _And my students seem to be learning._

"Kiba, you're an Inuzuka which means you rely on your senses, especially your nose. And most of your clan's attacks require you to physically touch your opponents, correct?" Kiba nodded at both these statements. "That means that you're particularly susceptible to genjutsu since it relies on tricking the senses. And anyone who can attack you from far enough away that you can't get close can avoid you and your dog's attacks. So how would you counter those two things?"

Kiba sat for a second with a hard look on his face as he thought. How to counter genjutsu and long-range attacks?

"I think," he began slowly, "That I'd need to find some way to test if I'm under a genjutsu. But I don't know what I would use."

Masato smiled at the boy. He'd hit the nail on the head. "You're right, and since your nose is your best sense, that's the most important sense to be able to check. I'd suggest you carry a couple different things that smell very harsh or strong. Keep them sealed until you need to check, then open them. If you can smell them, you're probably fine, but if you can't you can break the genjutsu, which I'm sure Kurenai-sensei can teach you. What about the second weakness?"

"I'd need to either get some attacks that I can use over distance or find a way to keep them from escaping."

Masato nodded. "You're right. I'll let you figure out a specific solution, but you're on the right track." He turned to Shino.

"Shino, you seem like the type who likes to come to his own conclusions, so I'll let you figure out your own solutions. You would have difficulty against someone who can use elemental jutsu to kill your bugs or someone strong in taijutsu who would not be affected by having their chakra drained."

Shino simply nodded at this. He'd come to nearly the same conclusion and had already begun planning ideas for counters.

"Hinata," he said softly with a smile. "What about you? What would you be weak against?"

Hinata fought the urge to say 'everything.' Honestly, what could she even do? She wasn't even good at the Gentle Fist style, the style she'd been taught for as long as she could remember. And if she learned anything else, her father would be disappointed. It was all just hopeless.

Masato could see the doubt in the girl's eyes grow and he placed a hand on her shoulder to snap her out of her thoughts.

"Kiba, Shino," he said, turning to the two boys. "Why don't you fight each other a little ways away. You can try to puzzle out some ideas on what to learn together."

Kiba and Shino nodded and headed off without complaint. They both knew that Hinata had low self-esteem, and figured that speaking about her weaknesses without them present would be easier for the poor girl, so they left without complaint.

"Hinata," Masato said softly once the boys were a good distance away. "You don't need to be so hard on yourself."

Kurenai sat nearby with baited breath. She could see the compassion in the man's eyes as he talked to the Hyuuga heiress, so she would let him speak. Normally she would never let someone talk to the girl about herself since her self-esteem was already so weak, but maybe he'd be able to get through to her better than she had.

"I'm familiar with the Hyuuga clan, and I'm sure being the heiress is difficult, but that doesn't mean you have to follow the path set before you."

Hinata was close to tears. She hated to think about being a disappointment to her family.

"If you're not good enough at your family's taijutsu, then maybe you can learn some other things to give you an edge. And if that makes your clan unhappy, then screw them. Let them be unhappy. All that matters is what makes you a better ninja. Besides, what do a bunch of old farts know about what's good for you?"

Hinata laughed at this, even as a few tears made streaks down her face. The idea of someone calling the clan council and her father 'old farts' was just too ridiculous. Her laugh brought a big smile to the blond man's face, which caused her to blush nervously.

"I think you'll be a fantastic kunoichi someday Hinata, now you just need to believe that. I know it's hard, but you need to figure out what kind of ninja you want to be, not what kind your family thinks you should be."

"Now," he paused, "As a Hyuuga, your eyes make you very effective against genjutsu users and the Gentle Fist makes you effective against taijutsu users, but kenjutsu and ninjutsu users will be a problem. Normally I'd say you could counter a kenjutsu user with a sword of your own, but then you couldn't use your Gentle Fist taijutsu. So I'd suggest learning some genjutsu and ninjutsu. Kurenai could obviously help you with genjutsu, and she could test your elemental affinity and help you with that as well."

Hinata nodded at this with a small smile on her face. The way he said it made it sound like he knew she could do it. And she was determined to prove him right.

Masato turned to Kurenai and said, "Would you mind checking on Kiba and Shino, I'd like to tell Hinata something in private."

Kurenai didn't particularly like leaving Hinata alone with him, but Masato had proven he had the girl's best interest at heart so she begrudgingly agreed.

"Hinata," he said soothingly after Kurenai was far enough to not overhear. "How do you feel about Uzumaki Naruto?" An 'eep' and more blushing was his reply. "That's what I thought, you must really like him." Her face turned so red she was in danger of passing out so he moved on. "Have you ever introduced yourself to him?" She shook her head. "That's what I thought."

"Naruto is," he waved his hand as he searched for the right word, "dense. He's not exactly the best at noticing things. So if you want him as a friend and maybe even more," the blush returned, "I think you'll need to make the first move. I want you to promise me that you won't tell him or anyone else where you heard what I'm telling you. It's personal, and the only reason I'm telling you this is because I want you both to be happy."

After Hinata's stammering vow of eternal silence, he continued.

"I'm sure you know that Naruto has a bit of a crush on Sakura, right?" She nodded, keeping her eyes on the ground. "None of that," he said, using a finger to lift her chin until she was looking at him with a rapidly blushing face. "You're a pretty girl and there's no reason for you to doubt yourself. Now, do you know the reason why he likes Sakura?" She shook her head.

"He was nice to her once when they were younger and they became friends for a while. Then, her parents and female friends convinced her to stay away from him and she did. I'm sure you've seen how she treats him now. But he still likes her because she's the only girl his own age he's ever been friends with. He's intensely loyal to the people he cares about, even if they don't return those feelings because he has so few people that are there for him. But like I said before, he's not good at noticing things, so he's probably never noticed a shy Hyuuga girl who admires him."

Hinata blushed again at this, but she still stared at the man. He seemed to understand her feelings completely.

"I think he needs your support just as much as you need his, only he's gone so long without it that he doesn't realize what he's missing. Maybe he won't feel the same way for you as you do for him at first, and you'll probably have to suffer through him talking about Sakura for Kami knows how long, but if you are willing to help him then you'll both be better off."

Masato sat back and looked at the small girl as the gears turned in her mind. Maybe he shouldn't mess with her and Naruto's future relationship, but he knew that they were perfect for each other, and a few years head start would only make them both happier. And listening to his dad be Sakura's fanboy for the next few years was going to get old real quick.

"Just think about it," he said, moving the conversation along to his next topic, "Anyways, there is one other thing I want to show you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. If anyone found out before I'm ready to tell them, I could be in big trouble."

Hinata's eyes widened at this. Why would he trust her with such a big secret? Whatever the reason, she wouldn't fail him.

"I p-promise, Masato-sensei, I'll t-t-tell no one."

"Good girl," he said with a smile as he reach up and pulled the bandages across his eyes down far enough for her to see. She stared at him with her mouth open. "As you can see, I have the Byakugan. My mother was a Hyuuga, and my father obviously wasn't," he indicated by tugging on his blond hair. "I have other things to do besides play politics with the Hyuuga, and you know they'll want my life story right before they try to brand me with their idiotic seal. So neither of us is going to tell them right?" Hinata nodded fervently. She hated the Branch member's seals as much as anyone. "Good, and in return I will help you with Gentle Fist style whenever you'd like. You'll have to keep our training a secret, but I'll help you as much as I can."

Hinata nodded again and Masato smiled as he stood up and helped her to her feet. They headed towards the rest of her team in silence, Hinata distracted by thoughts of Naruto and her new teacher, Masato by thoughts of when and where to teach her.

"Well Kurenai," he said once they reached her, "I appreciate you letting me practice my teaching, I hope I helped in some small way."

"Actually I hadn't thought of explaining it that way," Kurenai admitted, "Specialties as a ninja, I mean. And the weaknesses and counters was a good way to get everyone to work through their own problems."

"Thank you ma'am," he said, taking her hand and kissing it on an impulse, "I appreciate it." Before she comprehended what he'd done, he was already saying goodbye to her genin and then he was gone with a body flicker.

"We could go beat him up for you, sensei," Kiba growled, turning protective once again.

Kurenai just rolled her eyes at both of them, her cheeks dusted a light pink.

* * *

Masato's walk back to his apartment was uneventful. If he had paid closer attention, he would have noticed a lot of people, women especially, were taking notice of him. His presence had begun to spread through the village already. However, he was too deep in thought about his morning to notice.

_I really hope I didn't go overboard with mom. It's hard to see her like this, but what do I know about dealing with a 12-year-old girl's self doubt? And I hope she can keep my secret._

Part of his plan was to teach the genin, but he had very little specifics on what to do. His dad had freely admitted that most of his training was either from Jiraiya or learned on the fly, so any help he could give would be beneficial. It was apparent even after a few hours that Konoha was very gentle in its training. By the time he was their age, he was training nearly a dozen hours a day and had already killed ten people. Obviously peacetime training was gentler, but if the future was going to repeat itself, the younger ninja of Konoha would need to be ready to fight.

Helping Hinata by telling her about Naruto had been ad-libbed, but he was confident it would help. It was hard to see his mother unhappy even at 12, and his dad desperately needed someone his own age to take his social cues from. He'd have to give the boy some pointers next time he saw him.

Telling Hinata about his eyes was very risky, but he felt like he had to. His mother had taught him to use his Byakugan and how to use the Gentle Fist style, so he felt he needed to repay the favor. Plus, he'd know more about how Hinata should fight then anyone else. The difficult part would be how to nudge her in the right direction towards her own unique style without outright telling her. He knew that developing her own style was paramount to her self-confidence. It was the same with everyone he wanted to help. He needed to nudge them in the right direction and push them to train harder without taking away the growth that came with self-development.

His thoughts took him all the way to his apartment where he began preparing a simple meal of noodles, chicken, and vegetables. It was a basic meal, meant to nourish with little emphasis on taste. Most of his meals were like that, as most of his teenage years were spent on the battlefield where time and energy spent cooking was usually time wasted. Still, the food was fresh and it was delicious in its simplicity.

As he cleaned the dishes afterwards, he could feel himself begin to tense. He had one last thing to do today, and that was to find a traitor. There was a certain silver-haired medic that would need to be dealt with soon, and the first step was to gather information. Yakushi Kabuto was one of the few names that could bring his father to anger, and for good reason. Not only had the man resurrected Uchiha Madara and turned the tide of war against the Allied Shinobi Forces, but as the war dragged on and comrades fell, he had even resurrected their friends and family. Having to watch your friend fall in battle, then having to kill them again yourself the next day while they yelled encouragement to you was more than many ninja could bear.

He would pay for his crimes, but first he had to be found and analyzed. He'd need to either find evidence for Kabuto's treason or assassinate him secretly. He wasn't the best at assassinations, but Kabuto had survived too long as a spy to just leave incriminating evidence around for him. He would have to wait and see.

* * *

"But who he is, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked, his focus entirely on the old man in front of him and not on his orange book safely zipped in his jacket. For Kakashi to be this focused on anything meant it was important. And it was; he hated not knowing.

"I just told you," Hiruzen said in a calm voice, "His name is Namikaze Masato, he's related to the fourth Hokage, and he was trained outside the village. He just returned."

"Sensei never mentioned any family," Kakashi muttered to himself, trying to puzzle out if maybe he had and he'd just forgotten.

"I don't think they really knew each other. I think he's the grandson of one of Minato's uncles or something. It doesn't matter, and you can ask him yourself next time you see him. The point is, you should be talking to him instead of me." The implied dismissal was clear to Kakashi, who quickly took his leave. He would find this man and get some answers.

The third Hokage sighed. This was already becoming annoying. It was a good thing he had guards to chase away people, since it seemed like half the ninja and a quarter of the civilians wanted more information about the last living relative of the fourth Hokage. And since they knew he'd been through the tower, that's where they all started their search. He couldn't help but notice most of them were unmarried women. The boy had better watch his step or he'd be married a half dozen times before he left the village on his first mission. Technically the Namikaze were a ninja clan, although Minato had been the first and only member. Some rule in the village charter stated that becoming Hokage granted you and your family clanship, so the Namikaze clan's lands and money had been held by the village until the clan was refounded or someone replaced them. And since they were so few of them (read:one), the members could marry multiple wives until their numbers were high enough that extinction was not imminent. Basically Masato was single, 18, from a powerful ninja clan, wealthy, and able to take multiple wives.

The boy would definitely need to watch out.

Before he could spend too much time imagining having a half dozen wives who wanted his children (damn Jiraiya and his books), the door opened again and Kurenai stepped in.

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, but I needed to speak to you about a man I met today," she said with a respectful bow.

"Let me guess," he grumbled, "It's Namikaze Masato."

Kurenai blinked several times before nodding in affirmation.

"I'm sorry Kurenai, but I can't help you find him, nor can I help arrange any marriages. He is a ninja of the village, and he's welcome to do whatever he wants. If he wants to repopulate his clan, he will do it at his own pace."

Kurenai's mouth was moving, but no words were coming out. She was even too shocked to be angry at what the Hokage was implying. Finally, after nearly fifteen seconds, she was able to take a deep breath, fight down a blush, and settle herself.

"No, sir, that's not what I meant." She said in a tight voice. "He helped teach my team today, and I know he helped Kakashi's as well."

"Oh," Hiruzen said sheepishly. "Sorry Kurenai." Kakashi had even admitted that the man had somehow got his team to learn to climb trees and even to stop fighting amongst each other. It had only lasted until lunch before they were back to insulting and hitting each other in their strange love triangle, but it was definitely an improvement according to Kakashi.

"I was hoping he could come teach my team once a week," she admitted. "He has an interesting perspective on things, and I think it would help my students."

Hiruzen nodded and pretended to be weighing the idea in his mind. In truth, Masato had asked for much the same thing yesterday during their meetings. It was considered improper to allow a second person to teach a genin team as it showed a lack of trust in their sensei, but if the team's jounin sensei asked for him? That was a different story. And if Kurenai was asking, it meant he must be an impressive teacher.

"I see no problems with that," he said finally, "In fact, I think all of the rookie genin teams could benefit from the perspective of someone trained outside the village. If you could convince Asuma and even Gai to accept his help, I'd appreciate it. You can try asking Kakashi, but I'm not sure he'll listen."

"I'll ask around and see who is interested, sir." Kurenai replied before bowing and excusing herself.

* * *

A few hours later as the day was drawing to a close, Masato sat in a small ninja bar near his apartment. He'd gone to the hospital and asked a few discreet questions about Kabuto, and had been told he was out on a mission for the next few days. This wasn't surprising, but his mission was in the newly-renamed Land of Sound which meant he probably was meeting with Orochimaru. The idea that right now Kabuto could be giving the snake information sickened him. The plan was to deal with him near the finals of the upcoming Chunin Exam since that would keep Orochimaru from changing his invasion plans, but allowing the silver-haired genin to betray his village further was tough to do.

His misgivings were cut off as a familiar woman slid into the booth across from him. Mitarashi Anko had spent a good part of the day trying to find him, and after a fruitless search, she found him by accident when she went to get a consolation drink. She wasn't happy.

"You!" She said, pointing an accusatory finger at her. "Where the hell have you been?"

Masato raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you mean recently or just in general?"

"Don't make jokes," she growled, "I've been looking for you all day. I want another chance to fight you."

"I'm sorry," he said as the corners of his mouth twitched upward. "I'm far too tired to fight you two days in a row. I'll need some time to rest."

"Bullshit," she said bluntly before waving at a server and demanding alcohol. "You're going to fight me kid."

"Kid?" He rose an eyebrow. "I'm 18, I'm not really a kid."

She grumbled something that was either an apology or a rebuttal as a red-eyed woman walked up and slid in next to her. Kurenai had been listening to Anko complain about not finding the blond man, her complaints getting louder when she found out he'd helped Kurenai's team today. So she'd followed her dutifully to her favorite bar for support.

"Hello Kurenai," Masato said with a dazzling smile.

"Hello Masato," she said clearly. Apparently she'd worked through her blushing issue. "Thank you for your help today, my students appreciated it."

Masato waved a dismissive hand. "It was nothing, I enjoyed it. Did they find some things to work on?"

"Yes," Kurenai nodded, "Hinata has decided to learn some genjutsu, Kiba is going to ask his clan about different scents to use, and Shino wants to improve his taijutsu and learn some elemental ninjutsu."

"Good," Masato said happily, "I knew they could do it."

"I was hoping you'd be willing to come teach next week sometime." Kurenai saw Anko's incredulous look out of the corner of her eye but ignored it. "I think they could benefit from a different perspective. "

"I'm sure they would," Masato said thoughtfully. "I should be in the village for at least another week, so whenever you'd like me I'm yours."

Kurenai finally blushed at this, although she hid it well. Masato smiled victoriously.

Anko, for her part, was still trying to work through the idea that Kurenai wanted someone else teaching her brats. She'd never been interested personally, but the protective, almost motherly nature of her friend was pretty obvious. And seeing her friend blush like an idiot at this new guy was interesting. It looked like Kurenai had a little crush on this younger guy. She'd definitely be getting teased about this later.

"So," Anko said, steering the conversation towards something more interesting to her. "You're related to the fourth?"

Masato shrugged at this. "I guess so. He's a second uncle or something."

The women both seemed to accept this, and Anko spoke up again. "So why weren't you raised here? And why did you return after all this time?"

"Well," he began slowly, keeping his voice as natural and relaxed as he could. He'd never been the greatest liar. "I left when I was a kid for training, and once the fourth passed, I never returned. My sensei thought I'd be safer if no one knew I existed since the fourth had so many enemies. As for why I returned," he gave a placating smile, "I'm sorry, but it's a secret between me and the Hokage."

Kurenai accepted this with a nod, but Anko looked unconvinced.

"Are you here to restore the Namikaze clan?" Kurenai asked.

"Nah," Masato shrugged. "I wouldn't mind a family someday, but I'm not here to breed. I have better things to do, and it's not like I have a bloodline limit to preserve."

Both women could understand this sentiment. They'd both been privy to some people's near-fanatical desire to regrow the Uchiha clan for their Sharingan. Bloodline limits were so highly valued in the village that an individual's desires were sometimes ignored in favor of what the village council wanted. Since the Namikaze did not have a known bloodline limit, council involvement wouldn't be likely. Still, there would be plenty of women who'd want to marry a man with money and a famous name.

"Good," Anko said with a nod. "So do you know any of the fourth's secret jutsu?" Everyone knew the two techniques that had made the man famous: the Rasengan and the Hiraishin. The latter had allowed him to defeat Iwagakure's army single-handedly and given him the nickname 'The Yellow Flash of Konoha.'

"Maybe," Masato said mischieviously. In reality he'd been using the Rasengan for six years, and the Hiraishin for three, but he'd never been able to get the Hiraishin to work as well as it did for his father or grandfather. The seal that allowed for teleportation had to describe the person using the technique, similar to how a summoning scroll had a detailed seal specific to the animal being summoned. The more accurate the seal was to the person using it, the easier the jutsu was to use. The fourth Hokage had been incredibly gifted with seals, and his Hiraishin seal was so perfect it took nearly no chakra to perform. Naruto had developed his own seal when he was twenty, but didn't have quite the same level of fuuinjutsu knowledge as his father. It cost him a good amount of chakra to perform, but since his chakra reserves were so abnormally high, this mattered little. But Masato had neither the fuuinjutsu knowledge of his grandfather or the chakra reserves of his father, so his Hiraishin had to be used sparingly. It was still an effective technique, but he wouldn't be routing armies with it like his father and grandfather could.

The two woman seemed very excited by this knowledge. Both of them had been raised on stories of Konoha's Yellow Flash, and the idea of seeing someone do what he did was extremely appealing.

"Prove it," Anko said, although the sparkle in her eyes showed she already believed him. In response, Masato reached to his back and drew out a three-bladed kunai with a seal drawn on the hilt. It was a nearly exact copy of the fourth's tool of choice, and recognizable to almost everyone who'd seen the fourth fight. Both women's eyes widened and he gave the kunai a spin by its ring before replacing it on his back.

"Ok, now we're definitely fighting again," Anko said with a too-large smile. She didn't think she could beat him, especially if he started using the Fourth's techniques, but just to see them would be worth losing.

Masato smiled and nodded at this. He'd planned on showing the two techniques off at some point, if only to cement his place as a Namikaze. The civilians and most of the ninja would take them as evidence of his lineage, but a few (specifically Kakashi and Jiraiya) would wonder why he knew the Rasengan when the fourth Hokage had created it himself and taught only the two of them. He'd have to hold off on that one until he'd met Jiraiya. He'd probably have to tell Jiraiya who he really was and explain his mission, but he'd been planning on sharing it with him and Tsunade anyway once they were back in the village. Jiraiya's spy network would benefit from the foreknowledge information he had, and he'd need the fifth Hokage's permission to move around freely once she took office.

"Well ladies," he smiled as he stood. "I need to be going but it was a pleasure. Anko, I'd love to train with you sometime soon. Kurenai, pick a day next week and I'll be there to meet you and your team."

Both ladies nodded at the man as he walked out of the bar before turning to each other and talking about this new information about the blond stranger in hushed tones.


End file.
